May 13, 2024
Whoa, was this an exhausting couple of days! But we’re here in Budapest and it’s beautiful. The weather is great and the city looks wonderful.
But, as Miss Piggy once said, ‘you must be going to a pretty awful place if getting there is half the fun’.
We flew on Aer Lingus from Boston to Dublin and then onto Budapest, primarily because they have a fair priced business class option and also no one flies non-stop to Budapest anyway.
We had a 5:45 PM flight and scheduled our driver to pick us up at 2PM, plenty of time we thought. About an hour or so before we left we got an alert from Aer Lingus that the gate closure time for the flight would be 4:50, almost an hour before takeoff. Gate closure is supposed to mean no one arriving after that time would be allowed on the plane. Okay, we had planned to get there early and we have TSA Precheck so no big deal but it made me look at our boarding passes. Our TSA precheck numbers weren’t on the boarding pass which meant we had to go through regular security.
So, here’s something I didn’t know, the TSA precheck program is voluntary for airlines, they don’t have to participate and guess who doesn’t participate…Aer Lingus.
So, I’ll get to the end, we got to the airport in plenty of time, got priority screening because we were business class and even had time to hang around at the airport lounge before leaving. And, oh yea, they didn’t even start boarding until closer to 5PM. But really did we need all that stress.
I just can’t sleep on planes, Fred was able to sleep a little but it wasn’t restful. We had a 3 hour layover in Dublin, but again was able to use the lounge. From there, we started our final leg. We get to our gate at Dublin and there’s a bus, not a jetway. For the first time in a long time, we had to walk up the stairs to get on the plane. We were on what had to be an original Airbus 320, let me tell you my friends, it was old.
We then proceeded to taxi for almost an hour, I have no idea why, still we made it to Budapest only 15 minutes late where we had to go down stairs again. But we were finally here!
By the way, changing planes in Dublin was very easy, we just scanned our boarding passes and were able to go to our gate without going through security or customs. We were a little concerned about Hungary because they have very strict drug laws and Fred takes a number of prescribed medications, we thought, not knowing the customs process, that he might have to show all his prescriptions so we were prepared. It turns out we went through a very quick passport control BEFORE we claimed our bags, unheard of in the U.S. So, it all turned out pretty easy.
The river cruise company, AMAWaterways had arranged a car and driver for us from the airport to the hotel. We’re staying at the Budapest Marriot where there is a great view of the Danube from our room.
We couldn’t check in right away but met the cruise manager for the company and he was great, could not have been more helpful. We took a walk along the Danube and stopped for lunch with a fantastic view. (That’s fried goat cheese in my salad, it was delicious).
After checking in we showered and took naps, that felt good.
After a meet and greet with the cruise company again we walked around Budapest for a little bit. It looks like a fun city and we’re anxious to explore it tomorrow!
Whoa, was this an exhausting couple of days! But we’re here in Budapest and it’s beautiful. The weather is great and the city looks wonderful.
But, as Miss Piggy once said, ‘you must be going to a pretty awful place if getting there is half the fun’.
We flew on Aer Lingus from Boston to Dublin and then onto Budapest, primarily because they have a fair priced business class option and also no one flies non-stop to Budapest anyway.
We had a 5:45 PM flight and scheduled our driver to pick us up at 2PM, plenty of time we thought. About an hour or so before we left we got an alert from Aer Lingus that the gate closure time for the flight would be 4:50, almost an hour before takeoff. Gate closure is supposed to mean no one arriving after that time would be allowed on the plane. Okay, we had planned to get there early and we have TSA Precheck so no big deal but it made me look at our boarding passes. Our TSA precheck numbers weren’t on the boarding pass which meant we had to go through regular security.
So, here’s something I didn’t know, the TSA precheck program is voluntary for airlines, they don’t have to participate and guess who doesn’t participate…Aer Lingus.
So, I’ll get to the end, we got to the airport in plenty of time, got priority screening because we were business class and even had time to hang around at the airport lounge before leaving. And, oh yea, they didn’t even start boarding until closer to 5PM. But really did we need all that stress.
I just can’t sleep on planes, Fred was able to sleep a little but it wasn’t restful. We had a 3 hour layover in Dublin, but again was able to use the lounge. From there, we started our final leg. We get to our gate at Dublin and there’s a bus, not a jetway. For the first time in a long time, we had to walk up the stairs to get on the plane. We were on what had to be an original Airbus 320, let me tell you my friends, it was old.
We then proceeded to taxi for almost an hour, I have no idea why, still we made it to Budapest only 15 minutes late where we had to go down stairs again. But we were finally here!
By the way, changing planes in Dublin was very easy, we just scanned our boarding passes and were able to go to our gate without going through security or customs. We were a little concerned about Hungary because they have very strict drug laws and Fred takes a number of prescribed medications, we thought, not knowing the customs process, that he might have to show all his prescriptions so we were prepared. It turns out we went through a very quick passport control BEFORE we claimed our bags, unheard of in the U.S. So, it all turned out pretty easy.
The river cruise company, AMAWaterways had arranged a car and driver for us from the airport to the hotel. We’re staying at the Budapest Marriot where there is a great view of the Danube from our room.
We couldn’t check in right away but met the cruise manager for the company and he was great, could not have been more helpful. We took a walk along the Danube and stopped for lunch with a fantastic view. (That’s fried goat cheese in my salad, it was delicious).
After checking in we showered and took naps, that felt good.
After a meet and greet with the cruise company again we walked around Budapest for a little bit. It looks like a fun city and we’re anxious to explore it tomorrow!
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